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The Padres begin a new season with a lot of home games I will try to make, including the New York Yankees in interleague.

If I actually have time, I will watch Football in the 2013 season (Chargers).

I have 14 or more gunfighter stunt shows I'm performing in / acting in.

I may be able to go on a book tour selling and signing my novels (but this will probably be deferred until 2014 even if I am successful - which I will be sooner than later - it just doesn't happen fast.

I have 4 nineteenth century sailing ship battles I am crewing on, teaching tourists how to sail the old ships in the ocean for brief cruises and cannon battles / pirate stunt shows.

I have that mobster movie about 1930's Hollywood that I want to see. Mobster Squad I think?

There will be a new Star Trek movie at last!

Iron Man 3 I think.

I should go to Universal Studios for the Transformers ride and check out Disney's new Star Tours but don't know if I can afford it in light of all these other things.

I want to go to Chicago and take BobaFrett to the Padres visiting the Cubs at Wrigley Field.

The Padres play the Red Sox in Boston on the 4th of July weekend! I hope I can somehow get there!

Right now I think there are zero Star Wars toys (aside from 2 Jocasta Nu figures) and no SideShow Star Wars that I have any plans or interest in buying.

I will try to find some money for some rare Transformers that I want.

I will try to find some money to build up my toy dioramas that I've dreamed of displaying, and at least get a ladder to hang a lot of my spaceships from the ceiling.

The Walking Dead will continue on TV.

Breaking Bad will wrap up.

Hell on Wheels and Copper will return, as will Justified and Archer and another season of Sons of Anarchy.

Clone Wars can only get better.

More news about the next Star Wars movie will start to come out and I will either be really upset if the Expanded Universe is not continued and improved upon, or I will throw a tantrum even if I like the movie 2 years later.

I think I will get into following college sports (baseball, basketball, and football) at my alma matter if there's time.

I will start writing my 3rd novel.

And I'm sure that's only the start of things to come!

I hope I will learn to enjoy the ride instead of just look forward to 2014 when I might schedule myself some sleep!

BAD Pts Need:R5-C7 lf leg (x2), , R4-P44 right leg BAD Pts Offered For Trade: PM me - I have lots of parts now including BG-J38!. New Kyle Katarn is also available.

Apparently, repairs: house heater (died first week of year; still delays in replacing unit), possible shocks or brakes (car), own health (currently nursing a bad cold), others' health (a couple family and friend deaths, a few serious surgeries), sprinklers (continually broken by neighbors' kids playing), classroom tech upgrades (IF they happen), stucco (outside of house, with too many patches to re-do). I hope the Year of the Snake is not an unlucky '13.

I've got one really big thing going on this year. I should finally have the first issue of my comic book done soon and a friend of mine is going to pay to have 500 copies of it printed out. Then we're supposed to go to Comicapalooza in May to sell the book and see if we can find a real publisher for it.

So, right now, I'm focused on getting this book done at the expense of all else. I even quit my job at Walmart to make sure I had time to work on it and I've been selling off my Star Wars collection to supplement my income, because I haven't really been doing any freelance jobs while I work on this. But I'm currently down to only 12 action figures and one vehicle in my entire Hasbro Star Wars collection and that's probably going to be reduced by at least 50% in the next few weeks, so I've moved on to selling my comic book collection to keep the bills paid.

If this comic book doesn't work out, then I'll just have to get a real job again after Comicapalooza.

Civilized men are more discourteous than savages because they know they can be impolite without having their skulls split. - Robert E. Howard

I've got one really big thing going on this year. I should finally have the first issue of my comic book done soon and a friend of mine is going to pay to have 500 copies of it printed out. Then we're supposed to go to Comicapalooza in May to sell the book and see if we can find a real publisher for it.

So, right now, I'm focused on getting this book done at the expense of all else. I even quit my job at Walmart to make sure I had time to work on it and I've been selling off my Star Wars collection to supplement my income, because I haven't really been doing any freelance jobs while I work on this. But I'm currently down to only 12 action figures and one vehicle in my entire Hasbro Star Wars collection and that's probably going to be reduced by at least 50% in the next few weeks, so I've moved on to selling my comic book collection to keep the bills paid.

If this comic book doesn't work out, then I'll just have to get a real job again after Comicapalooza.

Excellent BigB! I wish you all the luck in the world. Nothing worse than suffering from "what ifs" for the rest of your life for not taking this step. How can one be successful if they don't try?

I tell you right now that I would be interested in purchasing one of the first 500 copies of your book (signed, of course!). When it's ready, please PM me with the details of how we can make this so!

Excellent BigB! I wish you all the luck in the world. Nothing worse than suffering from "what ifs" for the rest of your life for not taking this step. How can one be successful if they don't try?

I tell you right now that I would be interested in purchasing one of the first 500 copies of your book (signed, of course!). When it's ready, please PM me with the details of how we can make this so!

Again, good luck, sir!

Tom

Thanks! I am turning 40 this year, so it really did come down to me realizing that if I don't take advantage of this opportunity now, then I might as well give up on the idea of the comic altogether. It's based on a story that I wrote while I was in Bosnia back in 1996; but it is a pure superhero book with giant robots, mad scientists, etc. So, it's not autobiographical in any way, it's pure fantasy escapism (which was the best way for me to deal with being in Bosnia).

I'm pretty sure I'll have plenty of copies left over after Comicapalooza, but I still plan to set aside at least 100 copies to sell in my hometown. I'm having the series take place in Hillsboro, IL, so at the very least people from Hillsboro will buy it. Anyways, I'll be sure to set aside a copy for you (and I will sign it).

I'm hoping to make enough money from selling issue 1 to finance issue 2, in case I can't find a willing publisher, then #2 would fund #3. I don't think I'd go any further than three issue if I had to self-publish everything, though.

Civilized men are more discourteous than savages because they know they can be impolite without having their skulls split. - Robert E. Howard

And if your publishing company does 15 variant covers, BB, I'll take 16 of 'em!

I plan to check off one of my bucket list items this week, as I've got tickets to see the Harlem Globetrotters, IN PERSON!

OO

I'll be sure to set aside a few copies for anyone on here who wants one. Thanks guys!

It will also be helpful to get the feedback of people who will be reading the book from a completely fresh perspective. One of the biggest things I'm worried about with using a 17-year-old story is that elements that I've come to accept as a given, won't necessarily be established well enough for the story to actually make any sense. So I'm looking forward to getting some good objective feedback from you guys.

Civilized men are more discourteous than savages because they know they can be impolite without having their skulls split. - Robert E. Howard

Question: is the Comicpalooza like Comic Con, where you get to audition your work? Like to Dark Horse, Marvel, etc? At a lot of these Comic Cons, there are auditions you can schedule.

I start the same process tomorrow (Feb. 15) for my interest in auditioning my 2nd novel (this is the first of those writing conferences I mentioned above).

I want to wish you the very best of luck. Practice with a friend who will interview you and be skeptical, or even critical, and respond to that. Believe me it helps. I've had agents tell me that my level of action and violence in my story doesn't appeal to them, or (on my first novel) that they can't sell the Civil War genre.

I don't think you should treat any conference as "going for broke." Rather it's a year-upon-year process you trudge through. Eventually, you have to believe you'll be successful. (I like the way your warriors and giant robots sound - AND definitely say you were inspired to write the story while serving in Bosnia - it's a unique thing about you as a writer that those you present to will remember!)

Unfortunately, when you may become successful, you'll be sick of your own work, tired of marketing it, and presenting it, and it is less of an exciting ordeal (making it big) than you would've wanted it to be, since you just want to move on. THEN the fun starts, because when you DO want to move on and create something new or continue what you got started, your fans will want more of the same (that you're now sick of after presenting it for so many years) and they'll criticize you for straying from what you're actually sick of doing and want to ask you questions about that first book over and over again (the same questions, too).

But definitely go for it! Become successful - you have to! And you can never give up. Nevertheless, I hope it happens overnight for you BigBarada. Boy would that make it a lot more fun!

BAD Pts Need:R5-C7 lf leg (x2), , R4-P44 right leg BAD Pts Offered For Trade: PM me - I have lots of parts now including BG-J38!. New Kyle Katarn is also available.

Question: is the Comicpalooza like Comic Con, where you get to audition your work? Like to Dark Horse, Marvel, etc? At a lot of these Comic Cons, there are auditions you can schedule.

I start the same process tomorrow (Feb. 15) for my interest in auditioning my 2nd novel (this is the first of those writing conferences I mentioned above).

I want to wish you the very best of luck. Practice with a friend who will interview you and be skeptical, or even critical, and respond to that. Believe me it helps. I've had agents tell me that my level of action and violence in my story doesn't appeal to them, or (on my first novel) that they can't sell the Civil War genre.

I don't think you should treat any conference as "going for broke." Rather it's a year-upon-year process you trudge through. Eventually, you have to believe you'll be successful. (I like the way your warriors and giant robots sound - AND definitely say you were inspired to write the story while serving in Bosnia - it's a unique thing about you as a writer that those you present to will remember!)

Unfortunately, when you may become successful, you'll be sick of your own work, tired of marketing it, and presenting it, and it is less of an exciting ordeal (making it big) than you would've wanted it to be, since you just want to move on. THEN the fun starts, because when you DO want to move on and create something new or continue what you got started, your fans will want more of the same (that you're now sick of after presenting it for so many years) and they'll criticize you for straying from what you're actually sick of doing and want to ask you questions about that first book over and over again (the same questions, too).

But definitely go for it! Become successful - you have to! And you can never give up. Nevertheless, I hope it happens overnight for you BigBarada. Boy would that make it a lot more fun!

The friend who is funding the first 500 copies of my book is also trying to publish his own graphic novel, so he got us a table to show off our work in an area that he says is dedicated to new artists. Even if nobody buys my book, it will be cool to go to the convention just because of the guest list. Peter Mayhew will be there, as well as Alan Dean Foster (he wrote Splinter of the Mind's Eye and was the ghost-writer for the original 1976 Star Wars novelization). Some big time comic book and fantasy legends will be there too: Chris Claremont, Michael Golden, Bernie Wrightson, George Perez, Boris Vallejo, Julie Bell, etc. So I'm excited about going just for the potential of getting a professional critique of my artwork.

I don't think there will be any actual interviews or auditions for me. At least nothing formal. However, I do appreciate the advice. It's good to hear from someone who's been through a similar process as what I'm hoping to begin. If nobody is interested in publishing the book at the convention, I still plan to send out copies to companies like Image Comics to see if they are interested in it.

I also understand how parts of my story will start to feel boring to me as I continue to develop it. I've actually drawn out the first 4-5 pages a few times over the last 17 years, so it was a big challenge to find a fresh approach to the same old story that's been rattling around in my head for almost 2 decades.

Of course, overnight success would be the best possible outcome; but that would also bring it's own consequences. Because the more popular it becomes the more people will start injecting their own ideas into my story and characters. I'm not saying that's a bad thing, because it could potentially take the story to new heights that I'm not capable of taking it on my own; but there is also the risk of everything being derailed. So, right now I'm taking advantage of the fact that this might be the only chance I have to write and draw this book 100% my way.

Besides if I compromise my vision and the book fails, then the same doubts will haunt me as if I had never tried to publish the book in the first place.

So right now, I'm hoping that it becomes popular enough for me to make a living creating the book, but not so popular that other people are going to be constantly trying to take it over.

Civilized men are more discourteous than savages because they know they can be impolite without having their skulls split. - Robert E. Howard